The excitement this week round Bluesky, a brand new social media platform being known as Twitter 2.0, has been intense. Outstanding Twitter customers equivalent to Consultant Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Democrat of New York, and the mannequin and cookbook creator Chrissy Teigen have joined. 1000’s of others are begging for invitations to it.
Some Twitter customers have been in search of another social platform since Elon Musk purchased the corporate final 12 months after which modified the service. Bluesky’s customers say the app — which was funded by a Twitter founder, Jack Dorsey — has come the closest to mimicking Twitter’s tone and really feel.
Right here’s what to learn about it.
What’s Bluesky?
Bluesky is a social community that provides lots of the identical core options as Twitter. Customers can put up brief textual content and picture updates, reply to one another and share different folks’s posts.
The app, which continues to be in growth, turned accessible for iOS units in February and for Android units this month.
How is Bluesky totally different from Twitter?
Jay Graber, Bluesky’s chief government, stated in a weblog put up final month that it was no coincidence the app seemed like Twitter. However in contrast to Twitter, Bluesky plans to be a decentralized system, which means folks might ultimately have the ability to construct their very own apps and communities inside it. Ms. Graber stated it was designed that manner in order that no particular person might create guidelines for the complete Bluesky neighborhood.
Bluesky additionally operates utilizing an “open protocol.” That is uncommon as a result of social media platforms have historically been walled gardens, which means that what’s posted on particular person platforms stays solely on that platform. For example, your tweets present up on Twitter and your pictures present up on Instagram, however they can’t be simply cross posted throughout these social networks.
However as a result of Bluesky is attempting to be extra open, it might sometime enable posts to circulate between totally different social media platforms with ease.
Final month, a Bluesky person speculated that the app’s title got here from Mr. Dorsey’s want to rework Twitter into an open protocol, liberating Twitter’s chook mascot to a blue sky. Mr. Dorsey responded, “Sure.”
How do you be a part of Bluesky?
With Bluesky nonetheless beneath growth, it’s at the moment invitation solely. The app continues to be constructing moderation instruments earlier than opening as much as most people, Ms. Graber stated in a put up on the platform final month. To enroll, folks want an invite code from a present person.
Why has Bluesky grow to be widespread?
Since Mr. Musk purchased Twitter, he has modified the service by eradicating restrictions round on-line speech on the platform and altering its verification practices. These have led to some person confusion, in addition to to a rise in misinformation and hate speech on the platform.
Consequently, Twitter customers have examined out alternate options. In current months, some have migrated to Mastodon, one other decentralized social media platform that has stated it goals to be “a viable various to Twitter.”
Bluesky was initially restricted to a small group of tech insiders. On Thursday, a number of outstanding Twitter accounts and public figures — equivalent to Ms. Ocasio Cortez, Ms. Teigen and social media star Dril — joined the platform, creating buzz round it.
Bluesky’s customers look like having enjoyable with the app’s similarities to Twitter, together with calling posts on the app “skeets,” as a play on tweets. Not even a plea from Ms. Graber on Thursday to vary that title appears to have deterred them.
Kate Conger contributed reporting.